Her Best Match: A Romantic Comedy (The Best Girls Book 1) (24 page)

He stretched and groaned. “I think I’m going to take a break and tackle it tomorrow. I’ve got plenty of time. In fact, if you guys want a ride back to the apartment I could take you.”

“That’d be awesome. I’m not even sure what we’re doing this afternoon since we already went to a play. Oh yeah, we’re going to do MOMA. Hey girls, Mr. Gherring’s going to give us a ride home, and we can rest a bit and then go see the Museum of Modern Arts. They have an Impressionist Exhibit.”

“Can we invite the boys?” asked Emily.

“I don’t mind, but they may have other plans.”

“No ma’am. We have nothin’ but time today. We’ll study tomorrow.”

“Okay, meet you there at, say, three o’clock?”

“Works for us.”

Rayna exclaimed the moment she saw the group enter the apartment lobby. “Look! Look what came for you. You got a dozen red roses. And two gift baskets. I didn’t read the card.”

Anne glanced at Gherring, who was brooding near the elevator. She opened the envelope attached to the roses, but didn’t read it out loud.

“It’s a welcome to New York present from Henri,” she told the girls. “Why don’t you grab the gift baskets and we’ll take them upstairs to open them?”

With their arms full of flowers and cellophane wrapped packages piled high in decorative baskets, they tromped into the elevator.

“Aren’t you going up?” asked Anne when Gherring remained outside the elevator doorway.

“No, I’ve decided to go back and accomplish something at work.” His voice was flat and his eyes stormy.

“Thanks for the ride and for everything else,” said Charlie.

“Will we see you again this weekend?” asked Emily.

His glower softened. “I’m not sure. We’ll see.”

Upstairs, the girls started unpacking the baskets while Anne called Henri on Skype. She turned the laptop toward the girls so he could see them busy exploring their surprises.

“We love the stuff, Henri. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I am sad I cannot be there, so I will try to bribe them to like me.”

“Hi, I’m Charlie. This is awesome. Thank you, thank you! Look Mom—they’re full of different New York stuff, mostly food. There’s a New York Checker Cab Crunch, Statue of Liberty Lollipop, Hampton Popcorn’s White Truffle & Parmesan Popcorn, New York Mints. What’s this? New York Traffic Treats. What’s in that other one, Em?”

“Sour Puss Pickled Ginger Carrots, McClure’s Garlic and Dill Potato Chips, NYC Hot Sauce, Mast Brothers Chocolate Bar, Butter+Love Moustache Cookies. There’s some other stuff in the bottom. Oh! McClure’s Bloody Mary Mix, Z crackers. Ohmygosh! This is so much fun. Oh, sorry. Hi Henri. Nice to meet you. I’m Emily.”

The girls continued to examine the goodies, while Anne turned the computer screen back. “That was so sweet, Henri.”

“And did you like the card with the roses?”

Anne blushed. “Shhhh. I didn’t let anyone read it.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” Anne glanced toward the girls to make sure they were not eavesdropping. “Because you said something about wanting to kiss me again.”

“Is that bad? They do not want you to kiss me? Perhaps I should talk to them.”

“If y’all are going to talk about kissing, y’all should get a room.” Emily’s teasing resulted in even more heat in Anne’s already flushed face.

“Mom you’re such a prude. We don’t really care. Just don’t make kissing noises where we can hear them,” said Charlie.

Exasperated, Anne grimaced at Henri. “That’s why.”

The girls left early for the subway station, so Anne could take them by Carved Wood Creations. Mr. Hamilton was nowhere to be seen, so Anne showed them all the beautiful carvings. Each girl picked out a favorite.

“This one is mine,” declared Anne, showing them the Inseparable Love pair. “He carved it from a single piece of wood. That’s how he made them where they won’t come apart.”

“I like this one,” Emily picked out a mom reading a bedtime story to a small pajama clad child, nestled in her lap. “Or maybe this one.” She spotted a pair of ballet dancers, with the female, gracefully arched backward, and perfectly balanced over the head of the male dancer by one hand.

“These are the best. Look.” Charlie found a group of five figures, male and female, with their feet together and their hands clasped, stretched all the way out in a leaning position and held up by the balance of the others. “Look, you can change them around, but they only balance if you put them in just the right order. Otherwise they fall over. It’s like a puzzle.”

“I secretly call that one ‘World Peace.’” Mr. Hamilton emerged from the back. “It’s a really delicate balance and if anything is out of order, it topples over. These must be your daughters you were so excited about.”

“Yes, Mr. Hamilton. This is Emily and Charlie.”

“I’m so glad to meet you both.”

“Mom told us about your shop, but I couldn’t really picture it. These carvings are incredible.” Charlie managed to balance the figures in their original order.

“How on earth did you ever learn to do this? The detail is amazing,” said Emily.

“Lots of practice. I was a chauffer for the Gherring family for many years. That’s a lot of time sitting around waiting to drive them home. Whittling was how I passed the time. Now I have to use these magnifiers to see what I’m doing, but I still love it.”

“See Charlie, it wasn’t that he loved his job, but the job made his pastime possible. And he loved his pastime,” said Emily.

Charlie crossed her arms. “So if you had your life to do over again, would you do it the same way. Would you choose the same job?”

“Yes dear, no regrets. It’s not really the job anyway. It’s the people. Wherever you work and whatever you do, whether it’s a job or a hobby, it’s the people you interact with that really matter. If the Gherring family hadn’t been such incredible people, I would’ve found another job, lickety split.”

“Round two for Emily.” She sported a smug smile.

“You haven’t won yet,” said Charlie. “Mr. Gherring hasn’t given an answer yet, so round one is still up for grabs.”

“Have you met Mrs. Gherring?” he asked.

“Not yet,” said Anne. “We’re having dinner tomorrow night at her house. I can’t wait for them to meet her.”

“Yes, she is quite a woman.” Mr. Hamilton chatted easily with the girls, and by the time they left for the museum, they were exchanging hugs and regrets.

“He’s like a great-grandpa, right?” asked Charlie. “I mean he’s old enough to be ours?”

“Yeah, I guess he is. He’s ninety.”

“Maybe we could just adopt him,” Emily suggested. “He’s so cute and artistic and talented. That’s what I want to be like when I get old.”

“Not me,” said Charlie. “From what Mom has told me, I want to be like Gram.”

The girls arrived fifteen minutes early to MOMA, having effectively traversed through the subway system with Emily’s phone app. Spencer and Mark were waiting inside the lobby. Anne trailed behind the other four, who conversed easily about the artwork. Charlie loved a huge picture of a man that was made up of thousands of tiny photographs of other people. Emily loved everything in the Impressionist exhibit.

“I can’t believe I’m actually looking at ‘Starry Night’,” said Emily. “It’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Look. People are taking pictures of it. I thought you weren’t supposed to. They just kind of wait ‘til the guard wanders off.”

“Maybe it’s okay as long as you don’t use a flash,” suggested Spencer.

“I’ll get you next to the painting.” Charlie pulled out her phone and took a picture of Emily standing by the famous painting.

“Ma’am,” said a guard who happened to pass by. “Picture-taking is not allowed.”

“Okay, sorry,” said Charlie, giggling.

Emily, totally mortified, gave a scathing look to Charlie. And both boys stifled laughter. Charlie immediately posted it on the Internet. “It’s not like they’re going to put us in jail.”

Anne stood for a long time looking at the Monet paintings. He was her favorite. She loved the colors and the peaceful impact of the artwork. In contrast to the Van Gogh, the Monets were huge, covering entire walls.

As the group moved through the museum, Spencer seemed to be spending more time near Emily, while Mark was talking to Charlie. Anne was surprised that the pairs were reversed from her prediction. But both pairs seemed to enjoy a good bit of verbal sparring, and Anne congratulated herself on a successful matchmaking effort, at least for the span of the day.

Arriving back in the museum lobby, Anne said, “I wanted us to do a tour of some kind, double decker bus, maybe. But it’s kind of late, I guess.”

“Hey,” Spencer said. “We should all go on the Twilight Tour. It’s a boat that takes you on the Hudson. I think it costs about thirty bucks. Is that too much?”

“Well, since we got theater tickets for free, we could afford that,” said Anne, glancing at the girls to see if the idea was agreeable.

“I’m gonna want a warmer coat and a hat, if we’re out on the water at night,” said Emily.

Spencer quickly checked out the departure time. “If you hurry, you’ve just got enough time to go back and change. But you’ll need to catch a cab.”

Anne and the girls took a cab back to the apartment. Rayna was still at the lobby desk. “Hey, what are you guys up to?”

“We’re going on a twilight cruise on the Hudson River. We just came home to change into warmer clothes.”

“And we’re going with Mark and Spencer,” said Charlie. “Mom’s really trying hard on this matchmaking thing.”

“Charlie, I didn’t plan for y’all to be together all day. That just happened.”

“Mom,” said Emily. “If we didn’t like spending time with them, we would’ve ditched them a long time ago. You know that.”

“Yes, it’s true. You’re both pretty good at ditching guys—much better than you are at keeping them. We’ve got to hurry. Will we have any trouble getting a cab?” she asked Rayna.

“Probably no trouble. You might have to go around the corner. Or I can call one for you.”

“That’s a great idea. Fifteen minutes?”

“Done.”

Seventeen minutes later, a breathless Anne returned to the lobby. “The girls are almost ready. Is our cab already here?”

“No,” said Rayna. “I got you a limo instead. Is that okay?”

Anne’s face fell. “Oh Rayna, I don’t think we can afford—”

“It’s free,” said a voice from behind her, “if I can tag along.”

Anne turned a big smiling face toward Mr. Gherring. “We’d love it. Well, the girls might not notice since the boys will be with us. You really want to go on a touristy cruise on the Hudson? What if people recognize you? Tourists aren’t cool about being around famous people the way New Yorkers are.”

Gherring pulled an old beat-up baseball cap out of his pocket and added a pair of glasses. “Voilà!”

Anne was astounded. With the cap and glasses, jeans and a nondescript jacket, no one would suspect his identity. He could easily be a tourist from Weatherford, Texas.

“Now we just need to teach you how to drawl, and people will just think we’re a couple from Texas.”

“Are
y’all
ready to go?” he stretched out his words.

“That’s pretty good, but it’s not ‘red-dy’, it’s ray-eh-dy.”

Emily and Charlie came running down. Emily asked, “Are we too late? Did the taxi wait for us?”

“Mr. Gherring is taking us,” said Anne.

“Oh hey, Mr. Gherring,” said Charlie. “Dig the cool glasses—I didn’t even recognize you.”

“Yeah, love the nerdy look.” Emily whispered to her mom, “I think he really is Superman.”

Despite the cold evening air, the girls were delighted with the cruise. It was ninety minutes long and included all the sites along the Hudson River, including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges, and views of the twinkling lights of the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building on the New York skyline.

“I know this must be boring for you,” Anne said to Gherring, when the young people had gone to the outside railing. “You’ve been so kind. You’ve really made this weekend great for the girls. It wouldn’t have been half as much fun.”

“But you had all your gifts from Henri…”

“I’m sorry that happened in front of you. I know you don’t like him. I’m really not trying to flaunt him in your face, you know. And it doesn’t change how much I appreciate your efforts to make this weekend special for the girls.”

“It was nothing.”

“No. I know you gave up a lot of work time. And now… coming out here… I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

“You don’t need to repay me. I just wanted to show you—”

“Hey Mom! Come outside—it’s prettier from out here,” yelled Charlie.

Anne rolled her eyes at Gherring. “I’m coming.”

Gherring walked with her to an empty spot on the railing near the girls.